Can I Trust You?
by Bitumz
Summary: Elena has just undaggered Elijah and is anxiously waiting for him to awaken. One shot.


My lungs felt as if they were trying to rip themselves from my chest, yet my body lay still in the surrounding darkness.

I was conscious, the pain was nearly unbearable, but I could not move. After much effort I was finally able to pry my eye lids open. This small action awoke my senses, causing the pain to strike me with a frightening force. My entire body began to convulse in ways that bent bones out of their proper shape. I felt someone come to my side and heard a lovely voice whispering my name. It took a moment for my eyes to focus on her... How could it be?

"Katerina..."

My body lie there on the floor under her worried stare, but my mind whisked off to another place entirely.

_To the time when I first met this beautiful woman. I admired her for a moment, my breath taken. Stray stands of chocolate hair fell to each side of her face in perfect ringlets, as her deep brown eyes gazed at me in wonder. The innocence of her "hello" sent me crashing back to my present predicament and the pain it bared._

"Elijah, it's me! It's Elena!"

I heard the urgency in her voice, I felt her trembling hand on my chest, but my mind continued to trick me, bouncing between times. The pain still seared within my torso, spreading from my lungs to every inch of my body. I looked up and my eyes met Elena's, the same deep brown of Katerina's. The two were virtually identical. "Oh my God."

"Forgive me, you remind me of someone." I'm not sure if I muttered this apology with my mouth or within my mind.

_Her familiar beauty nearly rendered me speechless. I took her hand in mine and kissed it softly, my eyes lost deep within hers; eyes I recognized from another life. Since then, never has a woman struck me so deeply, for the first incident was what caused me to swear off love, and any related emotion, all together. It was at that moment that I remembered Katerina's reason for being here and the regret hit me nearly instantaneously, adding to the physical pain I was already suffering._

Elena's face, shocked with concern, was my last sight as the world went black once again. This was too much, even for my years of strength.

The beast in me was snarling in the back of my mind. **Get up, get out. Get up, get out.** It began as a whisper and grew louder and louder until my consciousness came back with a snap, my instincts immediately taking over. Every muscle in my body ached as I rolled over and attempted to stand. I gasped with all my power, trying to fill my lungs with the air they longed for but no air would come.  
"I can't... I can't breath!"

As I struggled to get out of this smothering prison, I felt Elena come to my aid. Her arms firmly around me, she lifted me up just long enough for me to tell her that I could not be in this house. With this realization, I used every last bit of my will to dash down the halls and out the front door. I reached the porch, collapsing forward, and was finally able to fill my lungs with what they lacked. The physical pain vanished instantly, leaving no trace. My mind, on the other hand, was still reeling over what had just happened and what had caused it... Her.

As she came to the doorway, I looked up at her from my crouched position. For that split second, I felt nothing but rage as the memory of why I was there came surging back. It was her that had betrayed me, daggered me, and stowed me in the basement like a useless object. The monster in me wanted to rush back through the door and teach her to show more respect to an Original.

But what I wanted most was an explanation.

I saw her fear of me fade as the anger left my face, my morality attempting to restore itself. I wanted answers but I knew we could not talk here, as unwanted ears were listening. I noticed that within her hand, she still tightly clutched the dagger that had previously been the death of me. It took me by surprise when she whispered the same question that I myself was silently pondering...

"Can I trust you?"


End file.
